WORK OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 



AGRICULTURE. 



A communication from Elwood Meade during his recent visit here. 



The work of the United States Department of Agriculture on 

 irrigation is primarily agricultural. It has to do with the quantity 

 of water used by farmers, the methods of use, and the results ob- 

 tained. Two comprehensive reports covering these phases of the 

 work have been published and a third is now in press, and will be 

 ready for distribution early in the coming fall. These reports con- 

 tain the results of measurements made in each of the arid states, and 

 in several of the states where irrigation is ordinarily considered un- 

 necessary, including Missouri, Wisconsin and New Jersey. The work 

 in these latter states, while of much less importance than in the 

 states where irrigation is necessary, has attracted considerable atten- 

 tion because of the profits shown to come from the use of water dur- 

 ing periods of drouth. In some of the arid states the extension of 

 the irrigated area depends very largely upon a better and more eco- 

 nomical use of their water supply, since nearly the entire supply is 

 used under present conditions. The work of the irrigation investiga- 

 tions is to point out the way to this better use. 



It has been found that the success of irrigated agriculture de- 

 pends very largely upon the laws and customs which have to do with 

 the use of water. The Department of Agriculture has therefore 

 taken up these subjects. An exhaustive report upon the legal and 

 economic situation in California has been published, and a like study 

 has been made in Utah, the results of which will soon be ready for 

 distribution. The annual reports before referred to contain much 

 along these lines also. In these reports Mr. D. W. Ross, state en- 

 gineer of Idaho, calls attention to the economy in the use of water, 

 which is being brought about by a modification of watertight con- 

 tracts. Mr. Ross has given considerable attention to this reform and, 

 owing to his efforts and those of others connected with this investiga- 

 tion, canal companies are substituting contracts under which the 

 water is measured to the farmer and he pays only for what he uses, in 

 place of the earlier contracts where he was charged a flat rate for 

 the area irrigated, regardless of the quantity used. In this way the 

 farmer is led to economize because he gets the benefit of his savings. 



Changes of this kind have increased the need of more accurate 

 methods of measuring water, hence the designing of cheap, efficient 



